


you were scanning the skies for me

by procrastibaker



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-22 01:28:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7413118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/procrastibaker/pseuds/procrastibaker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>quick</i>, Lardo texts. <i>semi hypothetical q. would it b weird if i got w/ camilla collins???</i></p><p>The response is almost immediate: <i>holy shit holy shit get it bro!!!!</i></p><p>Lardo resists the urge to roll her eyes. <i>no but like she dated jack so would he be upset?</i></p><p>It takes a little longer for Shitty to reply this time, but the next text arrives in under a minute. <i>not at all, i promise u, i'm with him right now and he said "lardo it is ur duty to tap that fine ass"</i></p><p>Lardo stifles a laugh. <i>yeah that def sounds like something jack would say</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	you were scanning the skies for me

**Author's Note:**

> more wlw check please fics please!!  
>   
> title from somebody by jukebox the ghost

Lardo’s in the middle of slaughtering some lax bros at flip cup—seriously, who let them in here—when she sees Camilla.

She’s illuminated by a beam of light that’s definitely just the kitchen door opening but Lardo’s a little drunk from the several rounds of flip cup she just won so she’s allowed to think Camilla looks sort of angelic right now. Her curls are backlit, giving her a sort of halo, and Lardo thinks that maybe she should avert her eyes to avoid spontaneous combustion.

Of course she knows who Camilla Collins is. Tennis superstar, a regular in Samwell’s 50 Most Beautiful—and while she has some objections to the existence of such an issue, there’s no denying she bought it. She’s an artist, okay, she likes aesthetically pleasing things. 

Camilla also dated Jack, which makes her… off limits, maybe? Lardo doesn’t know. She’s close with Jack, but not the kind of close that warrants deep heart-to-hearts and confiding in one another about their feelings or whatever, so she’s not sure how Jack would respond to a situation like this.

Camilla Collins is fucking gorgeous, though. And maybe not just in an aesthetically-pleasing-art-inspiration kind of way. And maybe Lardo’s harbored a little crush on her since she first saw that picture of her in the Swallow.

...so what if Lardo’s jaw drops a little. 

Camilla clearly just walked in; she looks a little windswept and she’s shrugging out of her jacket as she scans the room. She makes eye contact with Lardo and Lardo’s about to look away, pretend she wasn’t staring, but then Camilla grins and strides over and Lardo’s heart skips a beat.

“Hey,” Camilla says, and Jesus she’s tall. Lardo almost has to crane her neck to look up at her. “You’re Larissa, right? I’m Cami.”

“It’s Lardo,” she says, and then shakes herself a little, because she’s Lardo to the team and not to… anyone else, really, but she feels a little thrown off guard right now.

“Lardo,” Camilla—Cami, apparently—laughs. Her voice is pretty deep, but her laugh is melodic, like wind chimes, and Lardo needs to _stop_. “I like it.”

Lardo just says “thanks,” because she’s unusually tongue-tied at the moment.

“Is Jack here?” Cami asks, and Lardo’s heart sinks a little because Cami’s probably just here to hook up with Jack. Just a little, though, because she should be happy when any of her bros get some ass, right? Some nice, tennis-playing ass. ( _Holy fuck_ , Lardo thinks at herself, _please stop thinking about tennis butts and answer this girl’s question_.)

“He usually doesn’t come down to these things, but he’s probably in his room, if you want to go up there? It’s the second door on the right.”

“Oh! No, I just wanted to say hi, but if he’s upstairs it’s fine. I mean, I did come here with my friend, although she saw someone she knows from class and ran off as soon as we came in, but whatever. This happens, like, every time, so I’m used to it. I’ll probably find her in the corner somewhere having a heated discussion about quarks or something. Anyway, ah! I’m rambling. Could you show me where the keg is? I’d like to get a drink.”

Lardo is very charmed, to say the least.

She glances over at the hallway, where there’s a stream of people very obviously headed to the kegster room to get beer, and then back at the ping pong table, where the second lax bro is still trying to get his cup to land. It’s pathetic, honestly.

“I hate to leave this riveting game, but sure, I’ll show you the way.” Lardo’ll leave her flip cup partners—Ollie and Wicks, who are currently in stitches over their opponents’ failure—to chirp the hell out of these bros. She has faith in them.

In the back room, Lardo expertly pumps the keg a few times and fills two solo cups with beer. She hands one to Cami, who’s looking around curiously.

“Thanks!” Cami’s hair falls in her face as she takes a sip. “You know, I dated Jack for, like, two months but I never came here. Weird, huh?”

“Jack’s a pretty private guy, so I’m not surprised. You’re totally welcome here, though. We are a Haus of inclusion. Come by any time, except maybe not because Shitty’s naked, like, 90% of the time and I don’t want to scar you.”

“Ha! He told me the team was a great group of guys, but he didn’t tell me about that.”

Lardo rolls her eyes. “I’d say he’s practicing for the NHL but he’s just always like that. But yeah, team dynamic's, like, pretty weird, but that’s why I love them so much.”

"Yeah, well, Jack speaks really highly of you all."

“So, um, when did you guys date?” Lardo asks, as casually as she can manage.

“Fall semester last year, I think?” There’s a rueful twist to Cami’s lips. “Honestly, I’m not sure he even knew we were dating. I think they were more like platonic dates.”

So there’s that.

Lardo laughs. “He’s kind of oblivious, sometimes.”

“We’re good friends, though—it’s just, I don’t think either of us were really super invested in the whole dating thing. We definitely have a lot in common, though, and I think I might be getting him into photography, which is cool.”

“You do photography?”

“Yeah!” Cami ducks her head and smiles. “I’m not that great but it’s calming and it’s really nice to have a hobby that isn’t tennis or academics. Keeps me sane. You’re an artist, though, right?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?” Lardo knows she's got that art student look, but she spends most of her time hanging out with the hockey team, so she’s confused her fair share of people.

“My friend Ella’s in your printmaking class,” Cami says. “She thinks you’re the coolest. She gushes about you and your art, like, all the time.”

Lardo feels her face heating up. “Wow, uh, that’s so nice! Thank you—or, I guess, thank her for me.”

“I think you’re really cool, too.” Cami’s grinning, but there’s something more intense in her gaze, and Lardo feels herself blushing even more under her scrutiny. She’s in the middle of trying to come up with a smooth, eloquent response when someone elbows her from behind, pushing her forward and, shit, right into Cami.

“Fuck, I’m sorry,” Lardo says, as Cami helps her right herself and yells “hey, watch it!” at the guy behind them, who is clearly very intoxicated and flips them off.

Lardo grimaces. “Like I said, we’re a Haus of inclusion, but sometimes I wish we could filter out people like that." Cami's hands are still gripping Lardo's biceps and she looks about ready to fight the guy. Lardo feels a spike of adrenaline but pushes it away. "Do you wanna go somewhere less crowded? There’s usually not a lot of people in the kitchen.”

Cami drops her hands, and Lardo feels momentarily disappointed at the loss of contact, but then Cami loops her arm around Lardo's. “Lead the way!”

 

 

The kitchen seems empty at first, but then Lardo sees Holster tucked in the corner, thumbing through something on his phone. His head snaps up when they enter, presumably ready to berate trespassers, but his face lights up once he sees it’s them.

“Lards! Camilla! Come avoid social situations with me!”

Lardo pulls out a chair and Cami sits down next to her. “That kind of day, huh?”

“Yeah, I’m just super tired. Normally I’d be in the attic watching netflix, but Ransom’s got a girl in there, and who am I to get in the way of a bro and his hookup?”

Lardo laughs. “You’re a good man, Holster.”

Cami and Holster quickly fall into conversation about a class they’re in together—turns out Cami's minoring in econ and that's how she knows Holster—so she kind of zones out. She'd be remiss, though, if she didn't notice the way Cami keeps scooting her chair closer to her, the way she keeps knocking their knees together.

Lardo pulls out her phone as discreetly as she can and opens up a text to Shitty.

 _quick_ , Lardo texts. _semi hypothetical q. would it b weird if i got w/ camilla collins???_

The response is almost immediate: _holy shit holy shit get it bro!!!!_

Lardo resists the urge to roll her eyes. _no but like she dated jack so would he be upset?_

It takes a little longer for Shitty to reply this time, but the next text arrives in under a minute. _not at all, i promise u, i'm with him right now and he said "lardo it is ur duty to tap that fine ass"_

Lardo stifles a laugh. _yeah that def sounds like something jack would say_

_w/e just know he's so fine with it. like 110%_

Lardo replies with a thumbs up emoji, to which Shitty sends a string of eggplant emojis, which—not really applicable to this particular situation, but Lardo appreciates the sentiment.

If they were on a couch, Lardo would try to be chill and smooth and she'd casually drape her arm over Cami's shoulders, but they're on awkwardly placed wooden kitchen chairs and Lardo is neither smooth nor chill, as much as she'd like to believe she is, so she just scoots her chair the final inch to meet Cami's and hopes for the best. Her heart is pounding.

Cami takes the hint, wrapping her arm around Lardo just tightly enough that they’re sort of leaning on each other, thigh pressed to thigh, and Lardo feels electric.

Holster clearly notices, too; he's looking between them with an increasingly amused grin.

"Ummm, I have to go.” Holster’s voice is pitched a little high. "Ransom attic emergency, or something," he says, and flees the room.

“Okay, then,” Cami laughs, and when Lardo turns her head to look at her, Cami’s staring at Lardo with the same intensity as before. Cami bites her lip and releases it; Lardo tracks the movement and feels slightly dizzy. When Cami speaks again, it’s in a whisper. “Do you, um. Wanna get out of here?”

“Fuck yeah,” Lardo breathes. “Where—”

“My apartment’s just a couple blocks away, if that’s okay?”

 

 

As they walk, Lardo’s shoulder bumps into Cami’s, and Lardo tries her best to calm her jitters. It’s not like she hasn’t picked up at a kegster before, so why is she so nervous?

“So, um. Photography,” Lardo says. “What’s your favorite thing to photograph?”

“Portraits,” Cami says, looking up at the sky. Light pollution from Boston obliterates most of the stars, but a few are bravely peeking through tonight. “I like taking pictures of people. Especially when they’re laughing and it’s sort of candid. It’s like, obviously a picture will never actually capture someone’s essence, but I think those are the most genuine.”

“Wow, that’s… awesome.” In the morning Lardo’s more sober and less starstruck brain will chastise her for that response, and come up with some intelligent thought on how art is a lens and interpreting is generative, or whatever, but right now she’s content with being a little dazed.

“What about you? Do you do any photography?”

“I’ve done some, for class, but it’s not my favorite medium. I dabble, but right now I’m doing a lot of sculpture.”

“Oh, wow! How could I see your stuff? Do you have art shows?”

“Some classes have exhibitions at the end of the semester, and if I’m lucky I could also be featured in a department show—I could let you know if that happens?”

“It’ll definitely happen,” Cami says, and Lardo wants to say _you haven’t even seen my art_ but she’s a little distracted by the way Cami’s looking at her right now.

So distracted that she almost walks right into Cami when they stop in front of a door in a long string of low rise apartments. “This is me,” Cami says.

They go to Cami's room, Cami closing the door softly behind them. It’s small, like any other room in student housing, but Cami’s covered the walls with photographs—presumably her own—and pictures of space and various tennis players (of whom Lardo pretty much only recognizes Serena Williams), and the room feels cozy and welcoming.

Cami sits on her bed. On the wall next to her she’s got a bunch of photographs taped up, portraits like she was talking about before. They must be her friends, because the pictures look so intimate and personal. Lardo agrees with Cami—it feels more genuine, somehow, when the subjects don’t seem to know they’re being photographed. She also disagrees; Cami’s an amazing photographer.

“You like?” Cami asks, and it takes Lardo a second to realize she’s talking about the pictures.

“They’re beautiful.” Lardo sits down next to Cami, one leg tucked underneath her and one dangling over the side of the bed. “Tell me about them?”

“What, the photos, or—”

“The people.”

“Oh! Well, that’s Clare—she’s the one I went to the kegster with and shit I should probably text her to tell her I left but she likes to do her own thing anyway—uh, she does astrophysics so that’s how I know her and she’s just a really hilarious person. Um, that’s Paige, I went to middle school with them and they’re still one of my best friends…”

Lardo loves looking at Cami like this, fondly describing her friends and laughing a little, sometimes, when she remembers some shenanigan or other. She's beautiful, Lardo thinks, just like her photographs, genuine and smiling, her nose crinkling up when she laughs. Lardo knows she's staring, but she can't help it. 

If she painted Cami, it’d be all in gold tones. Her amber eyes might take up half the canvas.

Eventually, Lardo realizes that Cami’s trailed off and now she’s staring back, so Lardo does the obvious, leans forward and kisses her. It’s just a light press of lips that sends shivers down Lardo’s spine but then Cami gasps into it a little, presses her fingers to the nape of Lardo's neck, and Lardo deepens the kiss, licking into Cami's mouth. Cami opens up to her, soft and sweet. Lardo hasn't hooked up with a girl in too long, and Cami's all soft lines underneath her as she leans over, soft lines underlain with muscle, and Lardo wants to get her mouth all over her.

She shifts her weight so that Cami's lying back on the pillows and Lardo's bracketing her thighs. Cami's fingers dip beneath the waistband of Lardo's shorts, finding the sensitive area at the crease of her thighs, and Lardo moans and grinds down almost involuntarily.

Cami tastes like beer and strawberry lip gloss, which would be gross in any other context, but right now Lardo thinks it's the best thing she's ever tasted.

Lardo trails kisses down Cami's neck, listening to her breath hitch. She mouths at the junction of her neck and shoulder, drags her teeth against Cami's pulse point, and Cami gasps.

"Fuck, Lardo, I've had a crush on you _forever_ ,” Cami breathes.

Lardo freezes. 

“Oh, shit, that was probably a pretty weird thing to say, wasn’t it? I guess I really only just met you?”

When Lardo lifts herself up, Cami’s nervously chewing her lip and she’s blushing furiously. Lardo braces herself on one arm, uses the other hand to brush a few blonde curls away from Cami’s face.

“Would it be weird to say that I’ve had a crush on you forever, too?”

“Fuck,” Cami says emphatically, and crashes their mouths together.

Later, Lardo’ll jump up and down, maybe yell into a pillow a little bit, over the fact that her totally unrealistic faraway crush likes her back, but right now she’s more interested in the soft, desperate noises Cami’s making in the back of her throat as she kisses her.

 

 

Lardo wakes up to sunlight warming her face and a sleepy-eyed Cami looking down at her. “Hey,” she says softly.

“Hey.”

Lardo sits up and tries to make sense of her surroundings. Her mind’s still foggy with sleep, but she vaguely remembers that she has practice this morning. Practice. At nine. And it’s nine-fifteen now.

“Oh, god, I’m late,” Lardo says. “I have to go, I’m sorry. But. Uh. Would you maybe want to go out sometime?”

Cami’s grin is radiant. “I definitely would.”

 

 

It’s pretty obvious, when Lardo walks in to Faber twenty minutes late in yesterday’s clothes, what happened last night, but thankfully none of the boys say anything. Bitty does waggle his eyebrows a little bit, and Shitty gives her a look, but they know better than to talk to her about it in front of everyone.

When practice is over, Shitty skates up to the bench where Lardo’s standing, Jack in tow.

“Well,” he says.

“Well,” Lardo replies.

“Sooo, you haven’t stopped smiling throughout the entirety of practice and I don’t think it’s because you’re really happy about our drills.”

“Is that so,” Lardo says, although the goofy grin on her face belies her attempted coolness.

“Holy shit, Lards, I’m so proud of you,” Shitty says, clapping a gloved hand on her shoulder.

Lardo raises an eyebrow. “Uh, thanks, I guess?”

“I’m really glad,” Jack says quietly. “I knew you’d like Camilla.”

“Wait,” Shitty says. “How’d you know about this?”

“Uh, she mentioned wanting to get to know Lardo better so I told her she should come to the kegster?”

“Holy shit, Jack fuckin’ Zimmermann, did you set them up?”

“Not really,” Jack starts, but Shitty’s already tackled him in a bear hug that sends them spinning halfway across the ice.

“You magnificent beautiful man, you’re such a good friend!” Shitty shouts. Lardo laughs and takes her phone out. She makes a mental note to thank Jack later, but right now she’s got a date to plan.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm [hockeylesbians](http://hockeylesbians.tumblr.com) on tumblr!


End file.
